


Like Real People Do

by watchingthebeeswithdean



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-05-04 04:10:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5319965
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watchingthebeeswithdean/pseuds/watchingthebeeswithdean
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“His mother always told him that angels were watching over him.”<br/>After miraculously surviving a car accident, Dean Winchester meets Castiel, his very own guardian angel. Castiel watches over Dean as he recovers, and Dean’s life is gradually turned upside down as he struggles to adapt to a new life with a constant companion watching over his every move. If only Dean wasn’t the only person who could see Castiel.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_His mother always told him that angels were watching over him. She would whisper these words in his ear every night before he went to sleep. As a boy, Dean was enthralled by this, his childlike mind conjuring up images of great, mighty angels with golden armour and magnificent wings. His mother’s words made him feel safe and protected in the darkness when he was left alone to sleep. Of course as he grew older, he came to realise that this was not true. He knew that angels didn’t exist, and his mother’s words were merely said to comfort him. And yet, to this day, Dean still smiled some nights when he went to sleep, thinking of his mother. He could still hear the sweet words whispered by her soft voice, and sometimes he liked to pretend that his mother had been right all along._

 

Dean woke with an ache in his head. His body felt numb, like he hadn't moved in days. He didn't know where he was, but it was bright all around him. Sunlight shone through a window on his right and a bright beam of light burned his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling. He squeezed his eyes shut again, blinking slowly until his eyes adjusted to the brightness. He slowly stretched out his arms and wiggled his fingers and toes, feeling the blood rushing back through his limbs. He started to pick up sounds – footsteps on a hard floor, a rusty set of wheels, a machine beeping. He turned his head to the right, his neck feeling tender. He noticed a heart rate monitor on his finger and wires from a machine feeding through his shirt, sticking to his chest. The machine beeped faster as his heart rate increased. Why was he in a hospital? What happened?  
Dean’s eyes shot towards the door as a doctor and a nurse entered the room.  
“Good morning,” the doctor said, a comforting smile appearing on his face. He had dark hair that was greying at the temples and wore glasses. He had kind eyes, making Dean feel like he was safe. He walked to the foot of Dean’s bed while the nurse came to his side, checking his heart monitor. She was young and pretty. Each time she looked at Dean, her cheeks got redder. She smiled coyly at him.  
“You gave us quite a scare last night, young man,” the doctor continued, reading Dean’s chart.  
“What happened?” Dean’s voice was hoarse as he spoke his first words in what must have been quite a while. The doctor furrowed his eyebrows.  
“You don’t remember?”  
Dean closed his eyes and strained his memory, trying to piece together what had happened. Slowly, pieces started falling into place. He remembered being on his way home from the grocery store. He remembered driving through an intersection. He remembered a screech of tires and something large and fast coming towards him.  
“I… I was driving. Somebody crashed into me.”  
“That’s right,” the doctor said. “They crashed into you pretty bad. You’re lucky to be alive, really.”  
The nurse placed her hand on Dean’s. “You must have an angel watching over you,” she said softly with a shy smile.  
There was a huff of laughter at Dean’s left side.  
Dean whipped his head over, pain shooting down his neck.  
There was a man there. He sat in a chair by the window, the sunlight pouring over him, illuminating him and giving him an almost glowing presence. He had dark hair that was the perfect amount of untidy and a five o clock shadow. He gazed out of the window, a small grin on his face. How long had he been there? Dean never saw him come in, so he must have been there the whole time, even while Dean was unconscious. The man turned away from the window and looked at Dean. His eyes were strikingly blue, captivating Dean as he stared at him. He had a beautifully structured face with a strong jaw, and his lips looked soft and delicate. A strange sensation went through Dean’s body. It felt like a warm flow of fizzy liquid. “Who are you?” he asked.  
“My name is Doctor Barrow,” the doctor said.  
“No, I meant, who is he?”  
Doctor Barrow and the young nurse looked at each other. Dean could see a wave of concern wash over their faces. “Sorry?”  
“They can’t see me,” the man in the chair spoke, causing Dean to jump. His voice was rough and deep, not what Dean had expected. A sense of alarm arose in Dean. He glanced back over at Doctor Barrow and the nurse, who were now staring at him with a look of concern.  
‘It must be the morphine,’ Dean thought to himself.  
“Never mind,” he said, and attempted to change the subject. “So what happened to me? I didn't lose any legs or anything, did I?” His words had the desired effect and Doctor Barrow and the nurse went back to what they were doing. “No limbs lost,” the doctor ensured with a smile. “But you did get quite a bump to the head. We managed to keep you at a stable condition, but when you didn't wake up after twenty four hours, we were worried some permanent damage may have been caused.”  
Dean’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Twenty four hours? How long have I been out?”  
“Five days,” the nurse replied. She was standing next to Doctor Barrow, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and looking at Dean.  
“Jenny, I think you’re done here now,” Doctor Barrow said to her, raising his eyebrows.  
‘Oh, right. Ok. See you later, Dean.”  
She walked out of the room, glancing back at Dean once more as she exited the room. Doctor Barrow chuckled. “You've had the ladies here in a right state,” he told Dean. Dean laughed quietly, not surprised by the reception he got from the ladies (although he would have preferred some attention from the other sex at times too). He knew he was a good looking man and was no stranger to receiving stares. “Well, Dean,” Doctor Barrow continued, “We’re going to keep you in for a couple of nights for observation. We’ll run a few tests tomorrow, get a PET scan sorted, and see where you are. A nurse should be around in a couple of hours to check on you and bring you some dinner. Just try and get some rest for now.”  
“Right,” said Dean. “Thanks, Doc.”  
Doctor Barrow headed for the door and turned back to Dean before he left the room. “Jenny was right though. You must have an angel watching over you. You’re a lucky man, Dean Winchester.”  
And then Dean was alone again. Wait, was he? Dean whipped his head to the window again. The chair at the window was empty. Dean was relieved to see that he wasn't going crazy, that he had been right about the drugs causing him to see things. Yet at the same time, he felt slightly uneasy. He had felt the presence of the man so strongly. When he had looked into his eyes, it had felt so real. And that voice… Dean had heard it so clearly. Tiredness began to wash over Dean again. He tried to forget about what he had seen. He was too exhausted to deal with hallucinations right now. He thought of what Doctor Barrow and Jenny had said to him. He closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep, a slight smile on his face as a memory of his mother came back to him. The man with the blue eyes stood at the foot of his bed, watching over him as he slept.


	2. Chapter 2

Dean was having a nightmare. It was a nightmare that he had regularly. He was a child again in his first home in Lawrence. He was laying in his bed in his room and smoke was seeping through under the crack of his door. A burning stench filled his nose. Four year old Dean got out of bed and opened his door, peering through thick grey smoke to see a fire blazing in the room down the hall. This room was his new little brother’s room. Dean stood at his bedroom door, his vision getting hazier as the smoke surrounded him. Suddenly his father was running towards him, holding Dean’s baby brother, Sam, in his arms. He ran to Dean and shouted words at him, placing Sam in Dean’s arms, and now Dean was running through his home, cradling his baby brother. He was trying to find the front door but for some reason, he could not remember where it was. It was as if he were running for hours, struggling to see where we was going through the thick smoke and all the while a blazing fire was hot on his heels. In the distance, he could hear someone screaming. The way the dream usually went, Dean would continue to run and continue to hear the screaming until the flames engulfed him, and he would wake up in a sweat, his heart racing and his eyes stinging. But this time the fire did not catch him. Instead he awoke in the middle of his dream with a gasp.  
He was shaking, or rather, someone was shaking him. A hand was on his shoulder, shaking him awake firmly but gently. The hospital room was dark and all he could make out was a pair of blue eyes staring down at him. Dean screamed and jerked upright. The man with the blue eyes stepped away from him but kept his eyes on Dean. He looked worried.  
“Who are you?” Dean yelled.  
The man held his hands up. “Please, do not panic,” he said, and now Dean recognised the voice. It was the man he had seen earlier, just after he had woken up.  
“Who are you?” he repeated, this time quieter, but still just as stern.  
“My name is Castiel,” the man replied. “I… we met earlier.”  
Although his voice was deep and rough, Castiel spoke very softly and gently. He had a comforting voice, a voice that made Dean feel safe. Although Dean had never met him before, he felt as though he had heard this voice before, a long time ago, but he couldn’t think of where he had heard it. A sharp pain started to spread through Dean’s head and he released a breath he hadn’t realised that he’d been holding. He winced at the pain. Castiel walked back towards Dean cautiously. “Dean,” he said. “Please try and stay calm. You need to rest so that you can heal.” The way Castiel spoke was strange, as if he had limited experience of speaking with other people before. Castiel laid his hand on Dean’s arm and Dean let him. Something about his touch felt familiar to Dean. Something about Castiel felt familiar. “Do we know each other?” Dean asked. Castiel smiled, a beautiful smile that made Dean feel warm inside.  
“I suppose we do,” he answered. “We have been together many times, Dean.”  
“Oh,” Dean replied. “I’m sorry… I don’t remember you. Maybe my accident caused some memory loss?”  
Castiel chuckled softly. “No Dean, you do not have memory loss. You’ve just never seen me until now.”  
The panic started to rise in Dean’s chest again. Something wasn’t right. He felt like he was somewhere he wasn’t supposed to be. Castiel seemed to sense his alarm and softly squeezed Dean’s arm. “It’s ok,” he said. “This is not something surprising. You are not actually supposed to see me. But for some reason, you saw me today for the first time. I apologise if I startled you.”  
Dean looked at Castiel’s hand on his arm, then back to his face. “Who… what are you?”  
Castiel smiled again, the warm feeling returning to Dean’s stomach. “I am your guardian angel.”

Dean was waiting for himself to scream, to gasp in shock, to laugh in this crazy guy’s face or to laugh at himself for being crazy. He was waiting for the big reaction moment, but it never came. Dean felt peaceful, as though something inside of him had been pieced together. He felt as if the answer to a question he had been asking forever had finally been answered. He smiled as a memory of his mother came into his head.  
“My guardian angel,” he said. He took satisfaction in hearing the words come out of his own mouth. “Well. That’s something.”

Castiel and Dean talked until the sun started to peek through the window, a soft yellow spreading over Dean’s hospital bed. Castiel had at first insisted that they talk in the morning and that Dean get more rest, but Dean put up a fight. He argued that he wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway after the information he had just received, and Castiel finally backed down, taking a seat next to Dean. Dean wanted to learn as much as he could about his guardian angel. He asked many questions and Castiel patiently answered them all. Dean learned that Castiel had been watching over him his whole life. He protected him when he was in danger and also comforted him when he was sad.  
“So I suppose you’re the one that saved me from getting my brain squashed in the car accident?” Dean inquired.  
“That would be correct,” Castiel replied.  
“Well, thank you,” said Dean. “I suppose I should thank you for everything, really. For always looking out for me.”  
“You don’t need to thank me Dean,” Castiel responded with a small smile. “It is my job.”  
Dean smiled back at him. Although he had only just met Castiel, he felt as if he had known him for a long time. In a way, he had. Dean studied Castiel’s face. He found it interesting that he looked so… human. He expected a guardian angel to be holy and angelic, surrounded by a halo of gold or something. And whilst Castiel did look like an angel in the obvious way (Dean tried not to focus too much on how beautiful Castiel was, knowing that it would just make him blush and look like an idiot), he really did just look like a regular human.  
“I have one more question,” Dean said.  
Castiel smiled, a sight that Dean was very quickly growing to love.  
“Go ahead,” he said.  
“How come I can see you now? Why haven’t I ever been able to see you before now?”  
Dean did not receive an immediate answer. Instead, Castiel furrowed his eyebrows and squinted his eyes, thinking hard. Dean couldn’t control the grin that spread across his face. The look on Castiel’s face was, well, adorable.  
“I… I’m not sure,” Castiel finally answered. “I’ve been thinking that myself, actually. I… I don’t know why this has happened.”  
Dean felt like Castiel wasn’t telling the truth. Perhaps it had something to do with some kind of angel business that Castiel wasn’t allowed to talk about? Some kind of glitch in the system, perhaps. Dean wanted to question him further, but they were interrupted.  
The young nurse Jenny entered the room, wheeling in a trolley that held Dean’s breakfast.  
“Oh, you’re awake!” she chimed, a big smile on her face. Dean couldn’t help but think that her smile had nothing on Castiel’s. “I thought I heard you talking to someone. I thought you might have been talking in your sleep.”  
Dean glanced over at Castiel, who was still sitting beside Dean, invisible to Jenny.  
“Nah,” he replied. “I was just talking to myself. I do that sometimes.”  
Jenny giggled and flicked her hair over her shoulder. Dean noted that Jenny’s flirting skills were very basic.  
“I will leave you now,” Castiel interjected, while Jenny came over to do some checks on Dean. “I enjoyed our conversation. I will be back soon. Please try and get some rest.”  
Dean only blinked and then he was gone.


End file.
